Kōwakamai

TKōwakamai (幸若舞) is a Japanese recitative dance, originating in the 15th century and popular during the Sengoku and early Edo periods (late 16th to early 17th centuries). Although kōwakamai has dance and musical components, scholars consider its textual component as an independent literary genre.

Kōwakamai may have evolved from the dance form called kusemai of the 14th century, sharing its origins in traditional court dance and music with nō and kabuki. Little is actually known about how the dance was performed in the warlord to shogunate periods. A remnant of the kōwakamai is performed every year on January 20 at Tenman-jinja, a shintō shrine in Ōe.